The Timber and Timber Products and FLEGT (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

Amendment of Regulation (EU) No. 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council U.K.

6.—(1) Regulation (EU) No. 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market is amended as follows.

(2) In Article 2—

(a) in point (b)—

(i) for “internal market”, in each place it occurs, substitute “ market in the United Kingdom ”;

(ii) for the words from “Directive 97/7/EC” to “distance contracts” substitute “ regulation 3(1) of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 M1 ”;

(b) in point (d)—

(i) for “the internal market”, in the first place it occurs, substitute “ the market in the United Kingdom ”;

(ii) for “the internal market”, in the second place it occurs, substitute “ that market ”;

(c) after point (h), insert—

“(i) “competent authority” means the Secretary of State.”.

(3) In Article 4(3), omit the second sentence.

(4) In Article 5, in the second paragraph, for “competent authorities if they so request” substitute “ the competent authority if it so requests ”.

(5) In Article 6—

(a) in paragraph 1(b), in the second subparagraph, in the fourth indent, for the words from “by the UN” to “Union” substitute “ [F1 by the United] Kingdom or by the UN Security Council ”;

(b) for paragraph 2 substitute—

“2.   Detailed rules, except as regards further relevant risk assessment criteria referred to in the second sentence of paragraph 1(b) of this Article, are set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 607/2012 on the detailed rules concerning the due diligence system and the frequency and nature of the checks on monitoring organisations as provided for in Regulation (EU) No. 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the council laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market.”.

(6) Omit Article 7.

(7) In Article 8—

(a) in paragraph 1(c), for “competent authorities” substitute “ the competent authority ”;

(b) in paragraph 2(a), for “Union” substitute “ United Kingdom ”;

(c) for paragraph 3, substitute—

“3.   The competent authority must recognise as a monitoring organisation—

(a) an applicant that fulfils the requirements set out in paragraph 2; and

(b) any organisation that—

(i) immediately before [F2 IP completion] day was recognised as a monitoring organisation by the Commission; and

(ii) fulfils the requirements set out in paragraph 2.

Where point (b) applies, the competent authority is not required to notify the organisation or provide a certificate pursuant to Article 4 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 363/2012 on the procedural rules for the recognition and withdrawal of recognition of monitoring organisations as provided for in Regulation (EU) No. 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market.”;

(d) for paragraph 4 substitute—

“4.   The competent authority must carry out checks at regular intervals to verify that monitoring organisations continue to fulfil the functions laid down in paragraph 1 and comply with the requirements laid down in paragraph 2. Checks may also be carried out when the competent authority is in possession of relevant information, including substantiated concerns from third parties or when it has detected shortcomings in the implementation by operators of the due diligence system established by a monitoring organisation. A report of the checks must be made available in accordance with the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 M2 .”;

(e) omit paragraph 5;

(f) for paragraph 6 substitute—

“6.   The competent authority must withdraw recognition of a monitoring organisation if it determines that the monitoring organisation no longer fulfils the functions laid down in paragraph 1 or the requirements laid down in paragraph 2.”;

(g) for paragraph 7 substitute—

“7.   Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 363/2012 supplements the procedural rules with regard to the recognition and withdrawal of recognition of monitoring organisations.”;

(h) in paragraph 8, for the words from “and the uniform” to the end substitute “ are set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 607/2012 ”.

(8) For Article 9 substitute—

“Article 9 U.K. List of monitoring organisations

The competent authority must publish the list of the monitoring organisations and must make it available in such manner as the competent authority sees fit. The list must be regularly updated.”.

(9) In Article 10—

(a) in paragraph 1, for “competent authorities” substitute “ competent authority ”;

(b) in paragraph 2, for “a competent authority” substitute “ the competent authority ”;

(c) in paragraph 5—

(i) omit “Without prejudice to Article 19”;

(ii) for “competent authorities” substitute “ competent authority ”;

(iii) for “Member States” substitute “ the competent authority ”.

(10) In Article 11—

(a) in paragraph 1, for “competent authorities” substitute “ competent authority ”;

(b) in paragraph 2, for “Directive 2003/4/EC” substitute “ the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 ”.

(11) Omit Article 12.

(12) In Article 13—

(a) in paragraph 1, for “Member States, assisted by the Commission where appropriate,” substitute “ the competent authority ”;

(b) in paragraph 2, for “Member States, assisted by the Commission where appropriate,” substitute “ The competent authority ”;

(c) in paragraph 3, for “competent authorities and preserves their” substitute “ the competent authority and preserves its ”.

(13) Omit Articles 16 to 19.

(14) For Article 20 substitute—

“Article 20 U.K. Reporting

1.   The Secretary of State must from time to time—

(a) carry out a review of the application of this Regulation;

(b) set out the conclusions of the review in a report; and

(c) publish the report.

2.   The first report under paragraph 1 must be published on or before 31 March [F3 2022] and subsequent reports must be published at intervals not exceeding two years.

3.   In preparing a report under paragraph 1, the Secretary of State must have regard to the progress made in respect of the conclusion and operation of Partnership Agreements pursuant to Regulation (EC) No. 2173/2005 and their contribution to minimising the presence of illegally harvested timber and timber products derived from such timber on the market in the United Kingdom.

4.   The Secretary of State must, on the basis of reporting on and experience with the application of this Regulation, review from time to time the functioning and effectiveness of this Regulation, including in preventing illegally harvested timber or timber products derived from such timber being placed on the market. The Secretary of State must, in particular, consider the administrative consequences for small and medium sized businesses, within the meaning given by section 7(1) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 M3 and product coverage.

5.   The first review under paragraph 4 must be published on or before 31 March 2025 and subsequent reviews must be published at intervals not exceeding 6 years.”.

(15) After Article 21, omit the sentence which begins “This Regulation shall be”.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 6(5)(a) substituted (31.12.2020 immediately before IP completion day) by The Timber and Timber Products and FLEGT (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1315), regs. 1(2), 2(5)(a)

F2 Words in reg. 6(7)(c) substituted (31.12.2020 immediately before IP completion day) by The Timber and Timber Products and FLEGT (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1315), regs. 1(2), 2(5)(b)

F3 Word in reg. 6(14) substituted (31.12.2020 immediately before IP completion day) by The Timber and Timber Products and FLEGT (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1315), regs. 1(2), 2(5)(c)

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 6 in force at 31.12.2020 on IP completion day (in accordance with 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)), see reg. 1

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 2000/2334, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

M2 S.I. 2004/3391, amended by paragraphs 306 to 309 of Schedule 19 to the Data Protection Act 2018 (c. 12) and S.I. 2015/1897.

M3 2015 c. 26.